An Interview With Christopher Walken

The quirky screen legend loves your impression of him. His only request? More cowbell.

You play a crook in the new comedy Seven Psychopaths. That title could describe your career, although you’ve probably played more than seven of them.

It’s funny, because my background was in musical theater, and then The Deer Hunter and Annie Hall came out a year apart, where I played kind of unhinged guys. And in this business if you’re successful early on as a leading man or the comic relief or the crazy guy, chances are you’ll be asked to play that part again.

Do you do any impressions?

No, I’m the worst. If I did an impression, you’d have no idea who I was doing.

You’d do a good Donald Trump.

You know, before he embarrassed himself with all this political nonsense and Obama’s birth certificate, I liked him enormously. New York has always had these characters who sort of embody the essence of the city. When I was in Batman Returns, it never got mentioned, but there was a lot of Trump in my character.

Pick up the latest issue of Maxim, on newsstands now, to read the rest of the interview.